Video: The Lunar Crater Chronology

This video shows how scientists use impact craters, combined with radiometric ages of Apollo and Luna samples, to understand how old different surfaces are on planets, moons, and asteroids in the solar system. It examines the latest work in craters and how the latest data show that the classic model may be inaccurate. Credit: Stuart J. Robbins

SSERVI-funded scientist Stuart Robbins researched lunar craters with the Moon Zoo and Moon Mappers citizen science projects. Some of the work that he did was published last year, and the above 11min 30sec movie explains the results.

Stuart looked at the number of features per a pre-defined area (such as, 5 per square kilometer), and found the spacial density of all craters larger than or equal to 1km in diameter. By comparing radiometric ages of samples with spacial density calculations, Stuart was able to model a lunar chronology function. Now if researchers measure the spacial density of craters anywhere on the surface of the Moon, they can use the lunar chronology function to estimate the age. What is really exciting, is that this technique can be used on other planetary surfaces, and forms the basis of our time scales for what happened when on other worlds in the Solar System!